RECAP & REVIEW: Parenthood “Keep On Rowing” S4 E12

05Jan

Happy New Year everyone!! Wow did I get blindsided not realizing new shows were airing this week. I wonder if there’s a place where I can look up premiere dates for shows? Oh that’s right! My very own blog has that information. Christ if I don’t read my own blog, no one will. But I digress!

One of my Top Shows of 2012 is already off to make its mark on my Top Shows of 2013 list…Parenthood. But I’m sure you’re completely shocked to hear about my ongoing love fest for this show. And I’m not kidding, I will seriously dump ice water on someone if Monica Potter isn’t nominated for an Emmy this year. Come on people, you knew it was coming! It should be a drinking game. How soon into Heather’s Parenthood post will she mention how Monica Potter deserve an Emmy? Once you start reading, drink until I say it! I guess I should have put it lower in the post then. So let’s break down starting with the must be Emmy nominee…

Adam & Kristina

I think the writers have done an excellent job with this story. As well as everyone acting the hell out of all the scenes. There were two scenes this week, just revolving around Kristina’s storyline, that blew me away. And you’ll be shocked to hear that when they happened, I was not happy with how Kristina handled it. The first was when Kristina first shaved her head and woke up Adam to show him. I thought his reaction was perfect…shocked. Even though you know it’s coming. Even though you don’t want to make the person feel self-conscious. You can’t help but take a huge deep breath when you see someone with beautiful blonde hair, completely bald. Especially when it wasn’t gradual. One minute Kristina is out with the girls, the next she’s shaved her head. That had to be hard on Adam. And we saw how hard it was for her in the tearful scene where she decided to shave her head after a huge chunk of her came out at the bar that night. It must have been very empowering for her by her choosing to go bald, rather than let the cancer/chemo do it for her. It was sad and powerful for her at the same time. So I can understand her being upset with Adam’s reaction but I was surprised how upset she was. She woke him out of a sound sleep and surprised him with what she did. I think Adam just needed some time to adjust and take it in. Kristina already had that time to process it, Adam didn’t. But his resulting actions were very sweet. Which leads me to scene #2.

Adam takes Sarah out to buy Kristina a wig after he noticed her researching wigs on-line. I would have brought Julia for this one but that’s another story. Adam picks out a wig that looks NOTHING like Kristina’s hair other than the color. He brings it home to her and tells her he has a surprise for her. She lights up at the idea until she sees it. Then she completely breaks down and tells Adam that he must be embarrassed at how she looks and that the gift is more for him than her and she yells at him to return it. By the way, that wig was $250???!!!! Well I’m in the wrong business!! Anyhoo, Adam is devastated that he hurt her feelings and tried to explain that he only got it for her because he thought it was something she wanted after seeing her webpage up with wigs on it. But he apologized and promised to return it.

I really felt bad for Adam here and I thought Kristina was being unfair. I can completely understand why she would feel that way but she has to know that Adam would NEVER buy her the wig because he was embarrassed by her. And after he explained why he did it, I’m surprised how she continued to go off on him and break down the way she did. I really was heartbroken for him. He was just trying to do something nice for her and it didn’t go how he planned at all. And that’s the hardest part to get your arms around….while spouses want to be patient with their significant others for what they are going through, it still has to be taxing on them when they feel unappreciated for when they are trying to be supportive. It’s another way I think Parenthood has done a tremendous job of not only showing this from Kristina’s perspective but from Adam’s and toll her illness has taken on him. And I think many times, the immediate support teams (whether it’s spouse, life partner, parent, sibling, or friend), get forgotten about in terms how this also impacts their lives as well. Of course the patients are always thought of first and foremost, as they should. But I think there are too many times, the support teams get left behind. Where’s their support system?

But she really makes up for it later and again causes me to break out the Kleenex when she lures Adam outside the Luncheonette (with the help of one Miss Amber Holt) to apologize for how she treated him. Did she look fantastic or what? She rented a limo, put on a beautiful dress, had a stunning red wig, and a little sparkling wine to toast all her husband has done for her. And to top it all off, she had a suit for him and a hotel room set and she asked him out on a date. I. Flipping. LOVED IT!!!! It was so sweet and I loved every minute of their date. Even when she mentioned about going to Funkytown yet looking like her perfect evening was watching the back of her eyelids. It was perfect!

Crosby & Jasmine

I have mentioned how I’m back on the Jasmine bus right? Well I’m still on. Each week I’m loving her more and more and this was a tough week for her. She’s basically put in the middle of a difficult situation that many couples in this country are faced with right now. Her mother lost her job and can’t pay her bills. So C&J either have to pay the bills for her or she needs to move in with them. As you all know, Crosby’s relationship with Renee, his mother-in-law, has been…..challenging, to say the least. So I can see how Jasmine was nervous to even ask him and Crosby wasn’t really jazzed about the idea. But to Jasmine’s point, it’s family and sometimes you have to put your feelings aside and do the right thing.

It’s such a tough situation. I can understand how this is over and above the call of duty…bringing someone into your home who has a very different value system from you, where you can’t really be yourself, where you always have to walk around with clothes on, where you have to be on your best behavior. It can be really hard. But you know what, suck it up. My husband and I have an open door policy (and luckily a guest bedroom with its own bathroom) to anyone in our circle of family and friends that need assistance. We’ve already had two people stay with us for different reasons and we were happy to help them out. And we’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because to us, our friends are our family. And if family is in need and we can help, that’s what you do. I’m not saying that to pat myself on the back or expecting praise from readers (but I’ll never stop you!) I say it to give my comments context. I think Crosby, as usual, was being an asshole. A selfish, child. Her mother needs help, you suck it up and help her out. And you have every right to lay down ground rules. It is your home. But you need to help out your mother-in-law. If you don’t want to do it for her, then do it for your wife and child. What if that were Jabbar some day? Wouldn’t you want someone to help him? It’s what drives me nuts about Crosby. Everything, always, has to be about him. And I have a feeling this situation is going to explode before it gets better.

Joel & Julia

Speaking of exploding. Wow. Where did nasty Victor come from? I know Victor still isn’t 100% comfortable with his new living situation and it’s still a work in progress but I didn’t see this coming. Where did the kid who walked down the steps to see Julia learning Spanish for him, where he smiled in appreciation, go? Where did the kid who appreciated when Julia spent her whole day sitting in the parking lot to make him feel safe go? Where did the kid happy to learn baseball with Joel go? This is a situation very foreign to me so I don’t know if this is normal or not. I mean, common sense would tell you that a foster child or an adopted child, especially one as old as Victor, would start to question where his “real” mother is and start to ask to see her. But are these mood swings common? I guess each child is different and it would depend on the situation. Compounding the situation is Sydney.

Now, there have been people out there critical of Sydney. I’ve heard people call her spoiled and selfish and bratty. And to be fair, she has been all those things. But she’s, what, 8 or 9 years old? She’s a child dealing with her parents adopting someone older than her, someone who has different rules that she does, someone who’s been taking up much of her parents’ time and attention, and someone who doesn’t know where she fits in now. So I would say Sydney is handling herself like any normal child her age would in this situation. But, she did fuel the fire when she had her little chat with Victor outside. The meaner he was to her, the more she pushed his buttons. The culmination of that conversation was a metal bat hurled in her direction through their sliding glass door. Sydney, rightfully so, started screaming and crying out of fear in Joel’s arms and Julia was livid with Victor and punished him. The next day, she made Victor pancakes and he refused to eat them saying he wanted Burger King pancakes. Julia told him he’ll eat what she made him or nothing at all. He proceeds to tell her that his “real” mom let him have Burger King pancakes everyday. Talk about knowing what buttons to push!

This has been another amazing storyline this season. If it wasn’t for Kristina’s cancer story, this story would be the best of the season. It’s fascinating to me. Seeing this couple, who was so wanting another child, bring this boy into their home and struggle with making it work. It’s so incredibly hard. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is but how rewarding it can be once it starts to work out. But are we going to get to a happy ending with the Grahams and Victor? I’m not sure. Katims doesn’t always take the easy way out so who knows where this storyline heads. But Erika Christensen has been remarkable. As has Sam Jaeger but Christensen has had the slightly more emotional path this season. When the series first started, Julia was the driven career woman while Joel was the stay at home dad. Now the roles are reversed and we have seen Julia struggle with that this season. That’s a challenging enough transition and now add in raising a newly adopted son where the transition hasn’t been as smooth as you’d hoped and I can’t believe she isn’t walking down the street mumbling to herself. J&J have really gone over and above to make Victor feel loved and a part of the family. But I think he’s starting to test their generosity and uncertainties by behaving in ways he knows isn’t appropriate. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

Sarah & Hank

I hate to say this because I love Lauren Graham, but I couldn’t care less about Sarah. Compared to the other storylines this season, this one is dull and boring. I don’t care if she’s with Mark or Hank. I’m pretty much tired of all of her drama so it really doesn’t matter to me what happens with Sarah. She could go on tour with Seth for the remainder of the series, and take Drew with her, and I would be fine with that.

Only three more episodes of Parenthood until the season finale. That pisses me off. This should be a 22 episode a season series where I get to see more episodes!!! However, if only having 15-17 episodes a season means Parenthood keeps coming back year after year, I’m ok with that.